


kind hearts and bold words

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Human AU, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 15:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18875548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: Maia's crushing hard on the new girl at work and a chance encounter over a shared lunch break finally gives them an excuse to talk.





	kind hearts and bold words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MidyearMidnight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidyearMidnight/gifts).



> A (very belated) Claia fic for the lovely [Camryn!](https://twitter.com/Melodysbane) <3

Maia situates herself at an unoccupied bench in the far corner of the picnic tables set aside for eating lunch outdoors on nice days at the office. It’s one of the first truly nice days of spring and she plans on enjoying every last second outside of her stuffy workplace as possible, reminding herself that one more summer of this and she’ll have enough money saved up to go back to school. Until then she’ll grin and bear it and take whatever chance she can to escape the confines of those walls.

She gets the feeling she isn’t the only one. 

There’s a new girl with red hair Maia’s seen around the office a few times this week - a seasonal temp, likely on school break herself. They’ve exchanged names and talked a little bit when they end up behind one another at the copy machine, but their desks are on nearly opposite ends of the floor so they don’t cross paths often. It’s not  _ nearly  _ often enough for Maia who harbors a not-so-small crush on the new girl with the melodic laugh and the smile that could light up the darkest day. Clary seems nothing but pleasant to Maia at work but plenty of people are nice when they have to be, and it’s so difficult to read people in an office setting sometimes… 

While Maia sits with a sandwich, some chips, an orange, and a water bottle in front of her, Clary - the redhead in question- currently sits at a table with a travel mug of coffee, a pencil and a small sketchpad instead of a lunch spread out in front of her. She bites at the eraser with a furrowed brow before erasing one marking and going back in with the graphite. Maia follows her gaze when it lifts back up from the paper to a small bird on a nearby fence. 

The bird flies away and begins to tug at a piece of vine growing out of the rock wall next to the building. It isn’t going well for the poor little thing - the vine is rooted pretty solidly to wherever hole it’s growing out from, but the bird refuses to give up. It tugs for a little while longer before growing frustrated and flying away... only to return a few seconds later to try again. This process repeats three more times. 

“Do you need a little help?” Maia looks over at the sound of the voice thinking for a second that the question is aimed at her, only to see Clary get up from her table and walk very slowly towards the bird in an attempt not to scare it away. It doesn’t work - the bird takes off before she can get too close but Maia watches Clary go over to the vine and give it a quick tug to free it from the wall. She hits the clump of dirt and root off from the bottom and then carefully place it right back where it came from before walking back to her table. 

_ What on Earth is she doing?  _ Maia thinks, a question that’s answered a moment later when the little blue bird returns to that same vine - except now that Clary unstuck the roots the bird can pull the vine free easily, taking it up to the overhanging portion of roof where it’s clearly building a nest. 

Clary beams as the bird’s success and Maia gives a short, incredulous laugh at the scene she just watched unfold - - a laugh that draws Clary’s gaze over to her, a flush high on the girl’s cheeks. 

_ Shit _ , Maia realizes,  _ she thinks I’m laughing at her _ . But really, the laugh was one of pleasant surprise. After all, how compassionate of a soul Clary must be to go out of her way to help a bird get a piece of plant. And if she’s this kind-hearted towards random animals outside, Maia can only imagine the sort of person she is to her family and friends. 

Except she doesn’t want to just  _ imagine _ . She’s suddenly very aware of how much she wants to find out for herself.  

Of course, Clary’s never going to so much as speak to her again if she thinks Maia’s laughing at her. 

“That was really sweet,” Maia says finally, offering Clary a smile. They’re only sitting a few feet away from one another so she doesn’t have to raise her voice very much. “The bird looked so proud of itself when it thought it finally got that vine on it’s own.” 

Clary’s nervous look eases into something more relaxed as she smiles back in relief. “He never has to know,” the redhead says with a conspiratorial wink, and Maia laughs again. She can’t help it. “Too bad I lost my subject before I was done sketching,” Clary admits, glancing down at the unfinished sketch on her pad. “But I felt too guilty watching him struggle just so I could keep drawing.” 

“A very noble sacrifice,” Maia says. “”You’ll just have to find something that can sit still longer next time.” 

“Or maybe someone…?” Clary suggests, tone hopeful, a playful smile on her lips. 

“What, me?” Maia shakes her head at the implication, reaching for her water bottle to distract herself from overthinking Clary’s words.  “You don’t want to draw me.”

“Why not? I mean, you’re-” Clary starts but cuts herself off abruptly, that beautiful blush starting to creep up her neck at the unspoken second half of that sentence. 

Maia only meets her gaze with a curious expression, eyebrow quirked. 

Clary looks like she’s considering her options before taking a deep breath and finishing that lingering thought. “I mean, you have to be aware of how gorgeous you are, right? You could tell me you’re a model and I wouldn’t doubt it for a second.” 

Maia’s glad she waited to take a sip of her water because she definitely would’ve spat it out at that. Just the same, she sputters out a huff of air but doesn’t know what to say in response, a hand subconsciously rising to the scars on her neck. 

Clary doesn’t allow Maia’s lack of verbal response sit for very long before she quickly starts to gather her stuff from the table. “Sorry, that was  _ way  _ too forward, oh my god. Pretend I never-” 

“Wait! Clary… it’s Clary, right?” Maia stops her before she can take more than a step away from the table. 

Clary nods. 

“You wouldn’t want to… I don’t know, grab coffee sometime? Would you?” Maia’s not a huge coffee drinker but for the entire first week Clary’s been at the office Maia has yet to see her without a cup full of the dark liquid in her hands. “We could talk about my budding model career?” She adds, smiling to try and offset some of the nerves or tension from a moment ago. 

And there it is again. A little more subdued than before, but even Clary’s reserved smile is enough to send butterflies straight to Maia’s stomach. It isn’t a feeling she had a lot of lately but it isn't’ entirely unwelcome, either.  

“I’d like that,” Clary confirms, and Maia lets out the small sigh of breath she didn’t even realize she was holding while waiting for Clary’s answer. 

“Maybe after work today?” Maia prompts, perhaps a little too eagerly. 

“I can’t today,” Clary says, but adds before Maia’s face can fall too much, “But what about before work tomorrow morning? There’s a place right around the corner, a little diner named Taki’s. We could meet at 8?” 

Maia nods eagerly. “It’s a date,” she agrees, the words spilling out before she can stop them before looking up at Clary. 

Instead of being put off by the word, Clary only beams back at her. “It’s a date.” 

And when they both end up waiting outside the door for an open bathroom (where Maia learns that Clary is an art major just working for the summer), or by the water cooler (where Clary learns that Maia wants to learn to bartend so she can work nights through college), or at the printer (where Maia prints out an extra sheet of paper to write her number onto the back of, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket before she can even make it back to her desk) at the same time for the rest of that day, neither one of them seem particularly surprised. 

Maybe a few more months in this office won’t be so insufferable after all.  

**Author's Note:**

> ( Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell) while we all hang out waiting for someone to #SaveShadowhunters ! <3)


End file.
